Valentino Rossi was in buoyant mood at Silverstone as the Factory Yamaha star spoke of his affection for the 'full-throttle' characteristics of the British venue.

Rossi posted the fifth fastest time during free practice today on his YZR-M1 and appeared to have enjoyed is return to the British MotoGP with Yamaha.

“I'm quite happy about the practice. It is the first time with the Yamaha and I have a much better feeling with the M1,” he said.

“I enjoyed today a lot, this track is great. If you are able to ride at the limit and have a good feeling with the bike, it's very funny because it's very fast, the track is so wide you go a lot of time at full throttle.

“I'm quite happy with the first day, especially because in the last two years I suffered a lot here in Silverstone,” he added.

“We made a good step, but we still have to work to find the right setting to have a good balance from the beginning to the end of the race. We worked a lot on the setting and changed it from the last two races because I was not strong enough.

“I'm not so bad in braking and entry but I have some problems in other areas so we have to work.”

In a press briefing following practice, nine-time world champion Rossi said that although he enjoyed riding the M1, he feels electronic rider aids have had an adverse impact on the appeal of MotoGP as a spectacle.

“This year I think the races are a bit more fun compared to the last years, but not fantastic. I think our bikes are too perfect and sometimes it is too difficult to make an overtake and battle,” he said.

“The bikes are amazing, but to have better racing you have to change the computer on the bike and put a computer with 50-60 per cent less power. Electronics are very important for safety, that is good, but now we have a lot of electronics that are all for performance.

“Now, after you have set the bike in acceleration to go full throttle, with the computer, it is difficult to gain something. Maybe in the future MotoGP should go back a little in the level of the bikes and the races will be more fun, more mistakes.

“Because now the rhythm is very fast and constant from the beginning to the end.”

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I agree, the electronics kill the sport, worked wonders when they got rid of stuff like traction control and all the aero on F1 cars.
Hopefully they'll do the same for Moto GP, go back to basics where it's all rider skills. Riders like Marq wouldn't be able to ride how they do and ride fast, he's only getting away with it because of electronics. Riders like Rossi have learnt how to ride without them and have had to adapt to them as the years have gone on.